England Ladies’ first game at Wembley tomorrow will be played in front of a record attendance of 55,000 supporters.

And the match against Germany might have attracted more after the Football Association capped ticket sales because of engineering works on the London Underground.

Despite the game being shown live on BBC Two, tickets sold out quickly, topping England’s previous largest crowd of 29,092 at the Etihad Stadium for a Euro 2005 victory over Finland.

But big crowds for ladies football is not a new phenomenon.

And it was Merseyside which attracted one of the biggest crowds way back on Boxing Day 1920.

A staggering 45,000 fans crammed into Goodison Park for a clash between Dick Kerr’s Ladies and St Helen’s Ladies.

Match receipts were £3,100, which when added to the £3,000 receipts for a match at Anfield was reported by the Echo to be the most ever raised in a single day in football.

“The ladies at Goodison Park gave us all great pleasure. We appreciated their skill, their stamina, their determination and their manner of taking hard knocks ‘without turning a hair’” ran the report of the day.

The report added: “Sometimes the cap didn’t fit, and their hair was turned, still one must say that they all played well and hard throughout.

“What I am puzzled to know is: Will kind Ella Ratford kiss the rival captains if she kicks off in a gents’ match? If so, I’ll fix one up!

“Another puzzle is this: how could Referee Peers send anyone off the field of play for ungentlemanly conduct when all were ladies?”

Ladies football was clearly a novelty in 1920, but as popular as it is proving today.